A preliminary report on public comments related to the draft vision, goals and objectives collected during Loudoun’s “Envision the Future” workshops—the second in a series of public engagement workshops that are part of the Envision Loudoun process—was presented to the Envision Loudoun Stakeholders Committee at its August 14, 2017 meeting.

A total of 1,712 unique comments from members of the public were gathered during the June community workshops, which were held at locations across Loudoun County. The workshops focused on the community’s vision, goals and objectives, as well as areas where the county might consider future residential and commercial development. Public input was also gathered through an online tool following the public workshops.

Summary of Public Comments

• 13 percent of comments were generally “supportive” of the current draft vision, goals and objectives. Comments suggested that individuals found the current draft document broad enough to cover the diverse interests and people of the county, comprehensive and generally headed in the right direction.

• 18 percent of comments were generally “not supportive” of the current draft, but did not offer specific ideas for consideration. They suggested that the draft be more measurable and specific, more specific to Loudoun and its identity, less subjective and more attuned to specific geographies (particularly the rural west) within the county.

• 68.5 percent of the comments offered either substantive and specific suggestions or changes to the vision, goals and objectives, or focused on ideas or topics that participants would like to see addressed in the new Comprehensive Plan.

• 0.5 percent of the comments were not applicable or related to specific suggestions or changes to the vision, goals and objectives.

“These comments provide a clear picture of what the public told us during Round 2 of this process,” said Department of Planning and Zoning Director Ricky Barker. “The majority of participants either supported the vision, goals and objectives as they are, or provided feedback that will be used throughout the planning process. So while we are not modifying the vision, goals and objectives at this point, we will determine if these public comments have been addressed in other parts of the plan, or if they will need to be addressed by modifying the vision, goals and objectives during a later stage of the project.”
The public comments will be sorted into key topic areas to be considered by the county and the Stakeholders Committee as they work on developing the county’s plan. The topic areas include:

“We are pleased that so many people have engaged in this process to help inform our future,” said Envision Loudoun Stakeholders Committee Chair Jeff Salmon. “Our next step is putting all of this together to understand how the collective public input we’ve received so far should inform our next steps toward creating the county’s new Comprehensive Plan.”

Next Steps

The “Initial Analysis: Vision, Goals and Objectives” report will be among the topics discussed during an update on Envision Loudoun that will be presented to the Board of Supervisors in September 2017. This fall, Envision Loudoun enters Phase 4 of its five-phase process, which will synthesize the information collected during the “Listening and Learning” and “Envision the Future” stages of public engagement. The Stakeholders Committee will draft components of a new Comprehensive Plan, which will be available for public review during a series of workshops in 2018.

About Envision Loudoun

Envision Loudoun addresses growth, land use, transportation, community facilities and amenities, economic development, and fiscal management. You can participate by sharing your thoughts through a broad range of community engagement opportunities. Envision Loudoun will result in a New Comprehensive Plan that will serve as Loudoun County government’s guiding document for land use and development for the foreseeable future.